Lottery bid to rejuvenate once-loved Cwmbran park

10:12am Wednesday 8th January 2014

PLANS to rejuvenate a previously popular community park in Cwmbran are hoping to get the thumbs up from the Big Lottery Fund.

An application for £100,000 is due to be submitted by the Friends of Cwmbran Park group, who want to breathe new life into a park off Belle Vue Road – a site of fun and happiness since the 1930s, but which now lies desolate and void.

The group has already submitted one bid, with support from the Wales Council for Voluntary Action and landowners Torfaen council, but were recently told they need to include a capital bid to go with it by January 16.

More than 1,000 residents have voiced their support for the scheme, while group leaders Carl Touhig and Rebecca Blount held a consultation day with children at Ysgol Gymraeg Cwmbran to find out what they would like to play on.

Ms Blount said the park was “crying out to be loved again”.

“It was a focal point for the community for so long, enjoyed by so many people, but now it just look so sad and sorry,” she said. “The current generation is going without and it’s a shame. There is a great appetite for the project locally.”

To get involved or support the six-strong friends group park project, email cwmbranlife@gmail.com